Self Rescue Seminar

Climbing is dangerous. Accidents happen. We hear about them all of the time, yet too few of us have the skills to save our partners. Pretty scary.

This series of seminars will help prepare you to handle such emergencies. It is taught from a climber’s perspective – offering practical solutions to real situations, involving the kind of gear you probably already carry. While we hope that you will never have to use these skills, we are certain that the knowledge gained will make you a safer climber (and better climbing partner). Happily, many of these skills are transferable to aid climbing and mountaineering.

Session 1 - Belay Escapes and Silly Rope Tricks

The first session will focus on the "foundation" skills of vertical self rescue. We will start with friction knots and then put them to use as we learn how to escape a belay and ascend / descend fixed ropes.

Session 2- Hauling Techniques

An in depth exploration of hauling systems (A.K.A. a weakling lifts a big dude) including 2:1, 3:1, 5:1, and 6:1's. We'll go from a belay escape to a hauling system and back again.

Session 3 - Rappel Rescue

Learn how to swoop down on an injured climber, attach them to our system and lower them to the ground. We'll also learn how to execute counterweight and two person rappel rescues.

Session 4 - Rescuing an Injured Leader

Perhaps the most serious rescue is that of an injured leader who is more than half a rope length from the belay. This is a complicated task involving many of the skills taught in the earlier seminars.